05/01/2015 I just finished the PADI Open Water Final Exam and will head out to the first two Open Water dives to 12m in a few moments! Dropping my Sony A6000 Camera yesterday and thereby smashing the lens and battery cap, I will probably not be able to find a store to get it repaired here on Utila, leaving me without pictures from now on. Just my GoPro 3 fake from China is left but the picture quality is really bad… Anyway, here are some shots from Guatemala City!

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A lot of people are avoiding Guata due to it’s reputation of being dangerous. I can just encourage you to go though, having returned there twice during my time in Guatemala. Just use common sense, don’t do stupid stuff and you will be just fine! A little tip to get a cool view on the city and the volcanoes is to go up the 15th floor of the big apartment building just next to the church at the parque. The first time I got to the city it was well ahead christmas, but everything already got decorated for the festival, a pretty strange feeling in the sun and warmth and my first Christmas outside of Germany!

You should also check out the cemetry and if you like shopping, head to Tikal Futura and it’s malls there. At some point you would obviously head to Lago Atitlan as well. Most people take a direct chicken bus, paying about 40Q for a nearly four hours journey. Since I just missed the bus though, I took a slightly alternative route, ending up cheaper and faster! I used a ruletero van to Los Encuentros (25Q) and then two more chicken buses for 3Q each to Panajachel via Sololá.  It took me a bit less than three hours, but I was also lucky that I did not have to wait a long time in the chicken buses until they departed.